After two months of military operations against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the militant group has steadily made strong advances and there’s seemingly no end in sight to the conflict.
The U.S.-led coalition’s fight against ISIS is increasingly being criticized for its lack of progress and ineffectiveness – even being called “useless” and “lame” by some military allies.
Nearly $1 billion has already been spent fighting the Sunni extremist group - which has suffered some setbacks to strategic sites - but has nonetheless pushed forward with its campaign in Iraq, while maintaining captured territory in Syria.
So as ISIS stays on track to possibly take over Baghdad, Americans are justified in posing the question: Can the militant group actually be defeated? And if so, how?
Most experts believe the United States has only two options - commit to sending ground troops, which President Barack Obama is almost certain not to do - or concede defeat in Iraq and allow ISIS to take over.
The Obama administration already seems to be alluding to that reality, as evidenced by comments made by Vice President Joe Biden last week. “This is going to require a lot of time and patience… It will take a generation or more to work itself out,” he said.
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